Truth's Sanctuary
by llamaglamasama
Summary: When Shinichi is shrunk by mysterious men in black, he isn't sure what to do. Somewhere along the way, he finds himself living under the same roof as a sweet, but naive police detecive and working with some interesting people in order to remain Conan.
1. Chapter 1

Truth's Sanctuary

"Sorry, Ran! Go on ahead of me!" Kudo Shinichi yelled, running down the alley he'd seen the suspicious man in black go.

"Eh?"

"I'll catch up with you right away!" He snuck quietly after the man to a clearing in the bushes under the Ferris Wheel. The man met another guy, some company bigwig Shinichi recognized from TV. They said a few lines before the suspicious one demanded money. The business man opened the case and there had to be at least 100 million yen in there! The man took it and tossed the other guy a canister of film. Shinichi pulled out a camera he had brought with him, photographing the scene as the man in black reached in his coat pocket and began to draw a gun.

The detective jerked in surprise when another man, the companion he'd seen earlier of the man in black, seemed to appear behind him and attack him, slamming a metal pipe against the back of his head. Half conscious, Shinichi noticed the business man run off and the men in black share a few words. He could barely understand it, but it looked like they were debating the best way to kill him.

His head throbbed as the man with long hair jerked him up by his bangs and forced something into his mouth. They were kind enough to aide him with a glass of water that appeared out of nowhere and the small pill-shaped object slipped down his throat easily. The man dropped him, his head thumping against the grassy floor, and walked off, his partner in tow. Then, it started. _Pain_, like nothing he'd ever experienced. All he knew was that his entire body felt like it was on fire, everything was hot, hot, _hot_. Too hot, he felt like he was burning, his body was melting away. '_Gods, make it stop!_' He pleaded with his last coherent thought. The gods were kind to him and he fell into the realm of unconsciousness.

It was dark. Everything around him was dark. His body was heavy, his eyelids immovable. But it didn't hurt. He must've been numb, that was the only way his head injury could've been painless right now.

Suddenly, the darkness changed to a sudden flash of light. The light was dim, not at all like sunlight, but more resembling a light bulb. 'Heh, funny the things you think up when you're dying.'

"Hey, c'mere! We've got a dead body!" Someone shouted close to him. Oh, so he was dead already? Kinda sucked…not really the way he'd imagined it to be.

"Wait, he's still breathing!"

"Hurry, call the paramedics!"

'I _am_ alive?' He thought vaguely. His brain didn't seem to be functioning and everything around him was taking a long time to process. Finally, his eyes began to creep open, catching sight of policemen, and lots of them. 'Oh, I guess they were checking the area. That murder case just happened earlier, right?'

"Damn, his head's all bloody. Hey, kid, you awake? Can you walk?" The man closest to him asked.

'_Kid_! What the hell were they talking about? He was in high school for god's sake! Wasn't that old enough not to be considered a kid anymore?' His thoughts cut off when the police officer shined the light in his face.

"Are you okay, kid? How'd you hurt your head?" He was bending down, approaching Shinichi almost cautiously.

"I –" He rasped, blinking in surprise. His voice was high-pitched! And, ow, blinking made his head hurt. Damn that guy for whacking him with that stupid pipe. Speaking of which, where was that pipe? They could use it as evidence to find the guy that attacked him. Shinichi didn't think he was wearing gloves, so they should be able to get fingerprints.

He glanced around him before he noticed something weird. Was it just him or was he a lot closer to the ground than before? He was sitting up, right? Huh, maybe that blow to the head screwed with him more than he originally thought. But…no, it was still strange. His clothes…when he'd put them on this morning, they'd almost been _small_, but now…now they were _huge_. They should _not_ have flown well past his hands like that. And his pants…was he even sitting in those anymore? He couldn't feel the waistband at all.

He yelped when the officer picked him up. 'Holy shit, this guy should _not_ be able to pick up a high school-er that easily. What was he, a giant? But no, that was completely illogical. Then again, nothing about his situation right now seemed logical.

"You must've been scared. But don't worry now, we're here, kid." The policeman smiled pleasantly down at him while another one near them pulled out a radio.

"Uh, yeah, we're at site B and we've found an injured boy. We're taking him to the medical room, over." He said calmly. "Hmm, I guess his age is around five to seven. Definitely in grade school."

"What!" Shinichi yelped, once again hearing that high-pitched voice. _Why_ did he sound like a freaking girl?

The officers took him to a medical station at the theme park. The doctors patched his head up easily and the adults were all being very good-natured over everything. In the mean time, Shinichi was quickly becoming more and more frustrated. Why wouldn't these imbeciles believe him!

"I'm telling you, I saw these suspicious guys blackmailing this other guy! Something about gun smuggling! But his friend found me and he hit me over the head!"

"Okay, kid, you've been watching too many police dramas." An officer laughed.

Shinichi groaned. 'Stupid, _stupid_ police officers! Why did they keep calling him a kid, anyway?'

Two of the cops to the side were whispering…or _trying_ to. Shinichi could hear them perfectly and they were a great deal taller than he was. "Hey, maybe he'd a runaway."

"You think so? A kid like that…?"

"Go check if there are any requests for a search!" One of them ordered. Shinichi grumbled. Before this, he'd actually had a pretty high opinion of police officers, especially since he thought they were from Megure's division, but now…standards must be dropping.

His head ached and he moved to inspect it in the mirror. He jerked back in surprise when he caught his reflection. Damn, he looked like shit. But that wasn't the problem. No, the problem was…he was freaking _tiny_! Why? Why was he so small? What the hell had happened?

"Sir, there are no reports of missing children fitting his description." An officer announced.

"Oh well." The other said. "Get in touch with HQ. We'll take him to the daycare there."

"D-daycare!" Shinichi whispered, horrified. Oh hell no, he wasn't going anywhere _near_ there! He scrambled around looking for escape and found it in the form of a low window. Jumping out, he took off as fast as he could, heading to the first place he could think of.

Thousands of thoughts ran through his mind. 'I'm tiny, oh dear god, I'm an elementary kid again! What happened? A _daycare_! Hell no! What am I gonna do? Where can I go? Who would believe me? People don't just _shrink_. Oh gods, that's what had happened, isn't it? He'd shrunk!'

The circus in his head abruptly shut down when he collided with something bigger than himself. 'What _isn't_ bigger than me?' Something in the back of his mind spat. The rest of his mind concentrated on scampering away and seeing what in hell he'd hit. A person. A nice-looking young man, by the looks of it. Then again, he couldn't really see very much from where he was, down by the guy's ankles.

"Hey, kid, are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked kindly. Funny, he sounded kind of familiar. Maybe Shinichi had met him before.

Just then, a stampede of footsteps erupted behind him and the officers burst onto the street. "There he is!" One of them shouted. Shinichi scurried around the legs of the man he'd run into, hoping he'd make a good shield.

"Hey now, what's the problem?" The man demanded. Interesting, not many people stood up to a horde of policemen.

"O-oh, Takagi-san!" The officer in the front blurted in surprise. "Sorry sir, but we found this kid at Tropical Land, unconscious. We were going to bring him to headquarters and find out what to do with him when he ran away."

"Is he a missing child? Is there a search out for him?" The man, Takagi, asked slowly. His voice seemed to quiver just the smallest amount. Not very confident in himself, it appeared.

"No, keiji, there's nothing. We were going to bring him to the daycare at the station and find out who his parents are."

'Keiji?' Shinichi's brow quirked upward. Yes, he _had_ seen this man before. 'That's right! The murder case on the airplane when I was 14.' Yes, that was one case he remembered quite well. It had been his first formal appearance as a detective, after all. 'He was sort of like Megure-keibu's right hand man, wasn't he?'

"Oh, really?" Takagi smiled nicely. "Hey, boy, is that true? You don't have need to be scared, they won't hurt you. They're just going to help find your parents, okay? So, why don't you cooperate?" Still smiling, he reached out and hand which Shinichi took.

'Crap, what now? My parents don't have a little kid, they have a teenager for a child! What can I tell them?' No one would believe he was Kudo Shinichi. What should he say?

"What's your name, boy?" Takagi asked.

Shinichi blinked. "Uh…" That's right, name, he needed a _name_! He couldn't be Kudo Shinichi…but where could he take an alias from? Where would Sherlock Holmes take his alias from, in a situation like this? Wait…Holmes? 'I got it!'

"Conan!" He exclaimed. "I'm Edogawa Conan." Okay, so his name sounded like some weird foreigner's but…well, at least Edogawa Ranpo was Japanese, so his chosen family name didn't make him seem completely foreign.

"Edogawa…Conan? That's an…interesting name. Well, Conan, we're here at the station now. Can you tell us where to find your parents?"

Actually, he didn't even know where his parents _were_ at the moment. "I think they're somewhere in America. Could be Europe, though. They travel a lot." He said absently, not even realizing he was speaking aloud.

"America? Europe! Conan-kun…did your parents…erm, did your parents…leave you here?" Takagi asked, hesitantly.

'Leave me? Well, yeah, but that was a few years ago. Still, why dismiss a perfectly good excuse?' He nodded, forcing his eyes to water. It was surprisingly easy, but he supposed the fact that he was really in pain helped. "Y-yeah, they did." He murmured. He hoped he didn't sound totally fake. Couldn't fate bless him and let him inherit his mother's acting skills?

Apparently it had, because the officers in the room all turned to him, sympathetic looks in there eyes. Takagi even looked like he was tearing up as well.

"W-well, Conan-kun, we're going to have to contact a social services agency, you understand?"

'Conan's' eyes went wide. Social services? He was going to have to be _adopted_! Well, yeah, it made sense, given the story he had told them, but…he didn't want to end up living with some stranger god knows where!

"No!" He yelped. He bit his lip hard and tears leaked from his eyes. "No, I dun wanna go!" He whimpered. 'Crap, I think my lip is bleeding.' Shinichi thought. 'Dammit!'

Takagi looked sadly at him. "But, Conan-kun, if you have nowhere to go…" He trailed off. The guy looked really sad. Interesting, it wasn't often you came across people that kind. Made him seem pathetic, though.

"P-please! Dun make me go!" He cried. Gods, his dignity was really suffering right now. Well, groveling on his knees, sniffling and crying…no one would mistake him for the great Kudo Shinichi at least.

"W-well…I guess you might be able to stay with me, at least for a few days. Would that be okay, Conan-kun?" Takagi asked, his eyes pleading for him to stop crying. Looks like the guy couldn't handle tears.

Now…nice police officer over random stranger… "Can I?" He asked, eyes shinning with hope.

"Sure." Takagi smiled, relieved the boy was looking happier. "In fact, I'll take you home right now. You could use some washing up." The other officers stared at Takagi. "I'll drop in in the morning and take care of the paperwork, okay?" Takagi told them. He picked Conan up and walked out the door, heading for his apartment.

Conan was indignant about being picked up so easily, but…well, he _was_ tired and this Takagi guy was nice and warm…Besides, living with a police officer couldn't be that bad. At least he'd have access to cases and have a better chance of finding the guys who shrunk him than he would with some other stranger. And maybe, in the morning, he'd wake up and find out this was all just a bad dream.

With such thoughts in his head, it wasn't long until Conan was fast asleep, curled up against the young police detective. Said man smiled softly. He'd always liked kids and with this one he was able to do a bit of good. Maybe the kid would grow to like him enough to stay? It was possible…but then, there was still police procedure to deal with. Oh well, he'd worry about that in the morning. In the meantime, his apartment was just up the road and a warm, soft bed was very appealing right not. Though, actually, he'd have to sleep on the couch. He only had one bed and the kid was more deserving of it than him. Plus, the kid was injured. Takagi would need to take him to a proper doctor tomorrow and make sure there wasn't any damage. Those police officers had taken him to a medical station, so if he'd had a concussion, they'd have told him. So, no need to worry until morning.

Shinichi's eyes blinked slowly open. God, his head _hurt_! What the hell had he been doing? Did he piss Ran off yesterday or something? He blinked again and looked around. This was _not_ his room. Where was he?

He threw the covers back and tried to get out of the bed, but the sheets got caught up in his clothes and he fell in a heap on the floor. "Ugh…" The hell? His voice sounded funny.

He could hear sock-clad running across wooden floor before the door slammed open and a panicked voice was calling out, "Conan-kun!"

Conan…oh, that's right. The events from the previous night flooded back into his mind while Takagi fawned over him.

"Conan-kun, are you okay? Jeez, you're a mess. Why are you even wearing clothes that big in the first place? We're going to have to go shopping and find some stuff for you. Do you have anything with you? Did your parents leave anything?"

"Um…Takagi-san?" He said slowly. The man blinked.

"Oh, that's right, I never did introduce myself. Sorry about that. I'm Takagi Wataru."

"My head hurts." He mumbled. Takagi rushed from the room to get him a couple of painkillers and he struggled out of his pants. They weren't doing much good, anyway. His shirt more than covered his entire body. That was really rather depressing…

Takagi came back and handed him a pill and a glass of water, pulling him into a sitting position on the ground. Conan glared at the pill in his hand. Stupid things…it was all their fault he was like this. Nonetheless, he took the Advil and sighed in relief when the throbbing on his head eased.

"Well, we need to go shopping for clothes for you, I need to check in at the station to fill out paperwork about you, and…I suppose we need to enroll you in school?" He asked, thoughtfully. Conan shuddered at the thought.

"Um, shouldn't that wait until I have a definite place to stay?"

"Yes, I suppose. In that case, you'll have to come to work with me. That means you'll have to stay at the daycare."

Conan blanched. Hadn't he done all this to get _out_ of staying at the daycare? Also…school. If he was going to go to school, he'd need school records. Who did he know that could forge the records he needed? He didn't know anyone on the side of the law that would be able to do that. Besides, what criminal would want to help him, anyway? And really, what sort of excuse could he give in the first place to explain his need of forged records?

Wait, there was someone who would know how to forge records that might actually help him. But how to get in contact? And when? Almost anything he did, Takagi would notice. Maybe…if Takagi left him at that stupid daycare place, he could sneak out and do something, just so long as he got back before they noticed. He didn't need another group of officers looking for him. Last night has been quite enough.

"Well, lets get you some clothes first, then I can go into the office. My shift doesn't start for an hour so we should have enough time." Takagi smiled at him, pulling on a jacket and stuffing his wallet in his pocket. "You ready?" Conan ran a hand through his hair and nodded.

"You do realize everyone on the street is gonna look at you funny." He said. Really, who wouldn't? He'd be walking along with a kid whose head was bandaged and whose face was probably bloody, who was wearing an adult size shirt and nothing else, and who didn't even have shoes that fit him!

Takagi looked him over. "I guess we'll be needing to buy more than just clothes." He chuckled, locking the door behind them as they headed out.

By the time they got started buying things, Takagi began to worry that one hour might not be enough. Once they got the clothes, they had to look for shoes and toiletries, as well as anything else that caught their eye. His wallet was going to take a long time to recover.

But, when all was said and done, Conan looked much better than he had before. He also looked somewhat strange. He'd decided he wanted these particular glasses, ones that were way oversized for his face, and told Takagi he'd take care of the details with the lenses. The police detective waited outside while Conan chatted happily with the eye doctor working in the cubicle in the department store. When he came out, the only difference Takagi noticed was that the tag on the frames had been taken off and that glasses cost more than he'd ever thought. He supposed the lenses weren't very strong because Conan's sight seemed the same as it had been before. Maybe he was nearsighted?

Conan sighed. Who knew it was so hard to botch an eye exam. Next time, he'd just take the frames without glass in them if he needed to. That was pretty much how it was, anyway. The prescription the doctor had given him was too strong for his eyes, so he'd popped the lenses out as soon as Takagi's back was turned. He hoped no one would notice the glass was missing.

Finally, all their shopping was done. They ran by the apartment to drop everything off and had to hightail it to the office in order to make his shift on time. Wataru dropped Conan off at the daycare and got to work on filling out the paperwork from the previous night. Carrying it back to his desk, he soon realized that this, combined with the papers already waiting for him, would take him most of the day.

So focused on his work was he that he didn't even notice when his partner on the force came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He yelped, almost tossing the papers into the air. Luckily, he kept a hold of them, and he turned to see Satou Miwako giggling lightly.

"I'm sorry, Takagi-kun. I thought you knew I was here." She smiled vibrantly and he easily forgave her. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch in an hour?"

His gazed at her in surprise. Satou-san was asking _him_ to lunch? "S-sure. That'd be great!" He grinned. She laughed and went to her own desk, leaving Takagi to a pile of work that suddenly seemed a lot less tormenting.

While Takagi was rejoicing his date, Conan was finding out exactly _why_ he'd always hated daycares.

"Okay, children, why don't we color now?" The enthusiastic teacher said. The toddlers cheered. Conan groaned.

"Um, sensei?" He asked. "Could I use the computer?" He pleaded. He did _not_ want to color.

She frowned at him, but nodded. Apparently she decided that he was old enough to be trusted with the technology. Thank god.

He logged on and quickly started searching. It took him a while, the better part of an hour, but finally, he'd chased down a name. Now, to get in contact with him…

With Takagi, the hour had passed in blissful joy and, before he knew it, he was sitting in the break room eating lunch and talking pleasantly with Satou.

"So, Takagi-kun…" She started. Funny, she seemed kind of nervous.

"Yes?"

"Is it true? Yumi-chan said you came in this morning with a child!" Ah, Yumi-chan. The head of the gossip circle within the police. If she knew about that then so did half the station by now. No wonder he'd been receiving odd stares all morning.

"Oh, yeah, its true. One of the squads at Tropical land yesterday found a young boy. He didn't have a family and he was afraid to go to the social services, so I took him in for the time being." Takagi said.

"Oh, that's right, you were there at that murder at Tropical Land yesterday. But, really? You took him in?"

"Yes. I mean, he needed somewhere to go, right? And I don't mind. He's awfully cute, anyway."

Satou grinned and they launched into another conversation, this one about children. Takagi was feeling very giddy by the end of it.

Lunchtime. Why oh why did people think that all little kids should have healthy food for lunch? It wasn't like he was against healthy food or anything – his diet was actually very healthy, if he didn't cook for himself – but that didn't mean he restricted himself to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples! Why did they serve an apple, anyway? Most of the kids here didn't even have teeth!

About the time the other kids started running around screaming, Conan decided it was time to bow out. He slipped out the door while the teacher was trying to comfort a particularly whiny child. Once out of the station, he caught a bus to Ekoda. From there, he walked to the high school he'd mapped out on the computer beforehand. The receptionists stared at him when he walked in, but he ignored it and politely requested that they summon a Kuroba Kaito to the office so that he could speak with him. Shrugging, they obliged and, within minutes, a boy who looked remarkably like Shinichi was walking towards them.

"Hey, kid," He smiled. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes, actually." He said, leveling the man with a piercing blue stare. Kuroba raised an eyebrow. "Is there somewhere we could talk?"

Kaito motioned him into the corner. "So, what's up?"

"I need your help." Conan whispered.

Kaito looked surprised. "Me? Well sure, but how?"

"My name is Edogawa Conan. I need the assistance of Kaitou Kid."

Kuroba stiffened. "Kid? Well, why come to me then?"

"Anyone who knows how to research can connect you to the thief. Whether you really are him or simply an accomplice would take more evidence to discover, but I honestly don't care. Either way, I need Kid's help."

"With what, kid? Why would you want help from a criminal?"

"Because I need to see if he can forge documents." Conan said, voice very low. Kaito simply stared at him. "Nothing too extreme, but I need my identity as Edogawa Conan solidified."

"Um…and why do you think he'd help you?"

"I was thinking of a trade. I don't turn over the research I've done to the police and Kid makes me a 'legal' citizen, with school records and medical records, the whole nine yards."

Kaito thought for a moment before nodding. What choice did he have, after all? If Nakamori-keibu, or worse, _Hakuba_ got a hold of something linking him to Kid, it wouldn't take long for them to hunt down enough evidence to incriminate him. "Fine, when do you need this done, kid?"

"As soon as possible, preferably within the next few days."

"Fine, I'll see what I can do. But you know…you really don't sound like a kid, kid."

Conan smirked at him. "I'm not."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not. That's why I need my alias to have records."

"Riiiight. You know, I think you and me should have a nice long talk later." Kaito said.

"Fine, but not now. You need to get back to class and I…have somewhere I'm supposed to be."

"Okay, but how can I contact you?" Kuroba asked.

"I'm currently living with a police officer, but I don't think you'd be exactly comfortable there. Um…oh, I think I have a cell phone somewhere. I'll have to find it, but you should be able to contact me from there." Conan scribbled the number onto a piece of paper and handed it to the high school student. "Oh, and thank you."

"For what?"

"Well, for not sending me to an insane asylum, for one." Conan said. He nodded to his look-alike before turning on his heel and heading back to the station. He hoped the crazy teacher hadn't noticed his absence.

**Okay, so this is the first chapter of a new fic. I hope you liked it and, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.**

Conan gets taken in by Takagi becuz Ran is too close to his other life, but he can still access cases with a police officer.

Takagi adopts after a few days. He gets attached to Conan and, when the social services people show up, he decides to adopt, if its okay with Conan.

Kid forges the needed documents and makes him gadgets that help him live?

Conan play detective still? Yes, leads Takagi on with helpful hints. No sleeping dart stuff. Chalks up his knowledge to lots of reading.


	2. Chapter 2

On his way to the police station, Conan decided this was the only chance he'd get to look for his cell phone. After all, he couldn't just tell Takagi that he owned something inside Kudo's house. He wasn't supposed to have any relatives in the country.

When he got to his house, however, he quickly changed his mind. There were patrol cars _everywhere_. Why? Had something happened at his house? Oh well, it didn't matter. There was no way he'd be able to get his cell phone now. Great, what was he supposed to tell Kuroba? He noticed a vender on the streets, selling phones. He still had his parent's credit card on him, didn't he?

Five minutes later, he was walking off with a brand new phone in hand. Now, how would he tell Kuroba the new number? Maybe he should just call the teen's home phone later. But would he get a chance?

He stopped outside a telephone booth on the corner of the road and inspected the phone book. He had to hop up and down a few times while he attempted to reach it, but he managed, and soon he had the listed phone number of the Kuroba household. Punching it in, he saved it on his phone as an after thought.

"_Moshi moshi?_" A polite feminine voice answered.

"Hi!" He chirped in his most childish voice. "Is this where Kuroba Kaito lives?" She said the affirmative. "Could you give nii-chan this number when he gets home? Just say its from Edogawa Conan, please." She agreed, although she sounded very confused. "Thank you!" He hung up and ran back to the daycare.

"Conan-kun!" The teacher exclaimed when she saw him. "Where have you been?"

"In the bathroom." He said. She seemed to believe him because she turned away, but there was definitely more than one suspicious glance sent his way before the day was over.

--

Finally, Takagi-keiji's shift was over and he was standing outside the daycare room, talking quietly with the teacher. Inside, Conan was rocking on the balls of his feet, waiting to get out of the torture chamber.

After a few minutes, Takagi opened the door and beckoned him out, a weak smile on his face. "Takagi-keiji?" Conan asked, inspecting him, "What's wrong? You look…worn."

"Ah." Takagi laughed nervously. "It's nothing much, just this case that came up. It's not really our department, but the person involved has worked with us before."

Conan raised an eyebrow. "Really? What happened?"

Takagi hesitated for a moment. "Well…have you heard of that high school detective, Kudo Shinichi?"

Conan's eyes shot wide and he nodded. "Uh huh."

"Well, his neighbor reported a break in last night. That in and of itself isn't odd – Kudo-san does have a lot of valuables in his house – only no one was home when we got there. We talked to the neighbor and some of Kudo's friends, but no one has heard from him since sometime last night. Megure-keibu – he's the head of our division – called him and left a message, but if we don't hear from him by tomorrow, he'll be reported missing." Takagi sighed. "Aside from that, apparently the break in was odd, too. I don't know the details, like I said, it's another department's work, but there seems to be no real sign of the break in except that the alarm went off. The Kudos must have had a lot of alarms set up because we found the remains of a few of them that the perpetrator has bypassed, but they didn't get them all."

"What's so weird about that?" Conan asked. "Lot's of people have good security systems, don't they?"

"Yes. The odd thing is that nothing appears to be missing. Of course, without the owner's inventory, we can't be sure of that, but…" Takagi sighed. "And to top it off, there's still a load of paper work I have to get done."

Conan nodded sympathetically. Paper work always sucked. "What about the paper work involving me?"

"Well, actually, that's what we were talking about, the daycare instructor and myself. I filed what I needed to this morning, but they can't seem to find any record of you in the system. You'll probably be called in for fingerprinting tomorrow." Wataru said apologetically.

"Oh." Great, that meant he needed all the proper forms forged before then. "Um…where are we going now?"

"Well, I need to go home and catch a nap. What would you like to do?" Takagi asked, stifling a yawn.

Conan thought for a moment. "Can I go to the park?"

"Sure. Just be careful, alright? I'm trusting you not to get into any trouble."

"'Kay!" Conan grinned.

"Be home by 5 o'clock, okay? And call me if you get lost or something. You have change for a public phone?"

"I have a cell phone." Conan said. "And I can find your number in the directory."

Takagi nodded. "Good. We'll take care of numbers and the like later. Have fun."

"I will." Conan waved. "Have a good rest, Keiji-san!"

--

Miles away in the Ekoda province, students scrambled out of the building as soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of the high school day. Kuroba Kaito was no different, bouncing over desks and students alike on his way out the door. He was stopped, however, by a shout from his classmate, Hakuba Saguru.

"You seem in a hurry to get somewhere, Kuroba-kun." He noted.

"Sure." Kaito shrugged. "I'm meeting someone later. Don't wanna be late."

"Really?" A girl with wild brown hair butted in. "Who are you going to meet, Kaito?"

"Oh, just someone. Don't worry about it, Aoko. Anyway, let's go!" He headed out the door, Aoko following after him with an exasperated sigh.

"Ja ne, Hakuba-kun!" She waved. The blonde frowned after them but waved in reply.

All the way home, Aoko kept questioning her friend, trying to discover who he was going out to meet, but Kaito remained determinedly close-mouth the whole time.

--

When he walked in the door to his house and called out his presence, Kaito was greeted with a smile by his mother and a message from an Edogawa Conan, giving him a new phone number. Smiling, he thanked his mother and headed to his room, pulling out his phone to call the boy.

Not five minutes later, he was back out the door, laptop tucked under his arm, and on his way to neutral ground. Neutral ground as in no police officer guardians around.

When he arrived at the designated neutral ground, he found the boy who had confronted him in the school office this morning sitting on the swings, slowly rocking back and forth. Kaito frowned at the sight. The action certainly looked childish enough, but the boy's face was anything but. It seemed sad and lonely, forlorn almost.

"Hey, kid." He called. The boy jerked up, all signs of depression disappearing from his face in a move that made Kaito wince. He knew that mask. How could he not, after using it so many times himself. "What's up? You seem rather down." He looked the boy over for a moment. "This have somethin' to do with you needing the forged documents?"

"I…yeah." He sighed. "Can you…listen? Without marking me as insane?"

"If I haven't called you insane after that whole deal in the office earlier, I don't think I will. Besides, I'm not really in a position to be marking _anyone_ as insane. I'm not the sanest of people myself. So…what's up?"

Conan took a deep breath and began. "I told you my name was Edogawa Conan. It only became that sometime last night. Before then, I was known as Kudo Shinichi." He paused, waiting for Kaito to laugh. "Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Kudo Shinichi is a teenager, a well known detective. What am I but some snot-nosed little kid?" Shinichi laughed self-depreciatingly.

Kaito frowned. "Like I said, I'm not in a position to judge anyone. I don't know what's going on here, but I said I'd listen, so that's what I'm going to do. What happened?"

"It was stupid. I've always wanted to be a detective and yet, I blew it by forgetting the very principle that makes one. 'Observe, reason, and deduct.' I completely forgot about it, too concentrated in what I was doing." He stopped. "I'm not making much sense am I? It started when I brought my friend to Tropical Land. It was a reward fro having won the karate championship. While we were there, there was a murder on the roller coaster. These two men were seated behind the victim, looking very suspicious, especially when the police arrived. I dismissed it since they weren't involved with the case, but when I saw one of them running off afterwards, I decided to follow. I saw him blackmailing this company owner and pulled out a camera to take pictures, but…I'd forgotten about the partner. He came up from behind and hit me with some sort of pipe. They debated over how to get rid of me and decided on this poison. Apparently I was the first human test subject and…well, the poison didn't work. At least, not in the way it was supposed to."

"It turned you into a little kid?" Kaito asked skeptically.

"Sounds stupid, I know, but…" Conan sighed again. "When I woke up, I was already like this. Hell, I didn't even realize I was small until I saw my reflection in this mirror at the medical center at Tropical Land. The officers who had found me said something about a daycare and I panicked and ran. Luckily, I ran into this police officer whose kinda like Megure-keibu's right hand man. Uh, Megure-keibu is the inspector of the homicide division. Anyway, I somehow managed to get taken in by the officer, Takagi, but now they need the paperwork for me by sometime tomorrow."

Kaito let out a breath very slowly. "I see your problem. And somewhere in there you decided to find Kaitou Kid, or someone associated with him anyway, and ask him to forge you the necessary forms. Did it ever occur to you that telling me this might be a bad idea? I mean, if these guys who shrunk you find out you're still alive, they'll come to kill you, right?"

Conan froze. "Probably." He finally said. "But…well, I've been pretty much functioning on autopilot since this all happened and I had to tell _someone_ and Kid does have this 'no one gets hurt' policy, so the chances of him working with murderers are pretty low, and…" Conan cut his rambling to an end. "Seriously, who would believe someone could shrink? It's like something from a sci-fi movie."

"It is." Kaito agreed. "But strangely enough, I think I believe you. You certainly don't act like a normal little kid and its not like someone could seriously make up a story like that. Besides, you obviously came from _somewhere_." Kaito licked his lips. "Alright, what forms do you need for tomorrow? I can't promise you anything, but I'll see what I can do. I should warn you though…doing this will only be the beginning of a series of illegal events you'll need to go through if you intend to keep this up. Can you do that?" The magician asked seriously.

Conan bit his lip. He was a detective, he was against crime, but…what else could he do? If those people found him, they'd kill him. And if he didn't have the paperwork for the police, who knows what could happen to him? At least like this…at least as Conan, he might have a chance of chasing those criminals down. Besides, living with a police officer might give him access to case files he wouldn't come across otherwise. "Yes." He said slowly. "I'll do it."

Kaito nodded. "Good. Then let's get to work."

--

When five o'clock came around, the two boys had most of the files completed and had gotten around to chatting about random things that came to mind. They were actually getting on surprisingly well, a fact that Conan found pleasing. This teen was almost certainly the thief, but at the same time, he was a good guy and its not like Conan could really talk when it came to breaking the law anymore. Besides, it's not like Kid ever hurt anyone. And Shinichi was never really that interested in catching a thief anyway. Sure, he posed an interesting challenge, but…he worked murders, he wasn't interested in arresting someone with such a moral code of conduct. Leave Kid to the taskforce assigned to him, Shinichi would be out there catching the criminals that really deserved to be behind bars.

Kid offered to walk Conan home, something the boy decided to take him up on. It gave them more time to talk and, quite honestly, Conan didn't really know exactly where he was going. He'd much rather get lost with someone there to talk to and help him out than get stuck asking some stranger where he was going. Besides, he was a kid now and kids weren't supposed to talk to strangers.

When they finally did find the right place, Kaito nodded goodbye to him and left with a remark that he'd finish up the most important forms and plug them into the system. Conan smiled and nodded in reply, watching as the thief vanished from view before entering the apartment. His new home, he guessed it was.

"Tadima," He called upon entrance.

"Okari, Conan-kun." Takagi called.

Conan followed the voice to a small kitchen where the officer sat at the table, going over a couple of files. Looks like the cop had already had his nap, then. Conan yawned. Maybe it was his turn for a quick sleep, then.

Takagi smiled at him, catching the yawn. "Go ahead and take the bed," He offered. "I'll sleep on the couch tonight. If you do decide to stay here, we can see about a better sleeping arrangement, but for now, this should do."

"Okay." Conan wandered into the bedroom. The stuff he'd bought that morning with Takagi-keiji was sitting against the wall in the bags. Conan decided he'd mess with them later and pulled off his glasses, hoisting himself onto the bed and snuggling under the covers. He really was pretty tired. Oh well, he'd probably wake up later, hungry for dinner. Then, maybe, he'd deal with all his new stuff.

--

Takagi Wataru moved around the kitchen, gathering supplies and putting together a decent meal. Okay, so maybe decent wasn't the right word, but it was edible. Setting it on the counter, he walked to the bedroom to wake Conan for some food. Seeing the boy lying there, his face peaceful, made Takagi smile wide. This kid was adorable!

"Conan-kun." He shook the boy's shoulder. "C'mon, Conan-kun, let's get some food in you." Beautiful blue eyes blinked slowly open and stared blankly at Takagi. "Conan-kun." The eyes blinked again before recognition slid across them and Conan gave a sleepy smile. "Hey there. Let's get some food, ne?"

Conan nodded, rising from the bed with a yawn and following Takagi into the kitchen. He hopped onto one of the chairs at the table and made himself comfortable as Takagi set a bowl of yakisoba in front of him.

They ate in silence for a long while before Conan was really awake. "Ne, Takagi-keiji?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Why did you become a police officer?"

"Oh." Takagi blinked in surprise and thought bout it for a moment. "Well, I guess I first wanted to be one when I got into high school. I witnessed a hold-up at this department store and got really mad. I wanted to make the criminals pay. Later, one of my friends got murdered by a serial killer and I really wanted to make sure the perp went to prison."

"But if you wanted him to go to prison, why not become a lawyer?"

"Well, you're right. It's not the police's job to judge. All we do is try to catch the right guy. It's up to the courts to decide what happens to them. But…well, I think there's more satisfaction in catching the right man. As a police officer, I can help protect people and help uncover the truth of what actually happened." Takagi smiled. "Why do you ask?"

Conan's grin was determined. "I wanna catch the bad guys." He said fiercely.


	3. Chapter 3

With Conan's bizarre sleep schedule the night before, it wasn't really surprising that he woke up at least an hour before the rest of the civilized world. Sighing, he dragged himself out of bed, accepting that sleep would no longer come to him. Actually, it wasn't that much of a loss. All the sleep he'd gotten was plagued with nightmares of shining metal guns and long blonde hair and black.

Allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, he decided to explore the rest of the apartment. Takagi had never really given him a tour and he was curious by nature.

After an hour's tour, all he'd concluded was that Takagi either spent close to no time at home or simply had no social life to speak of. The apartment was bare, but it spoke greatly of a certain wear, as if someone sat around all here occasionally.

Conan frowned. The most likely conclusion was that Takagi had no life, but he really couldn't see why. Takagi was nice, if a little timid, but he was definitely a good person to befriend, and he certainly seem like the kind of guy who was unendingly loyal to his friends.

Sitting on the kitchen floor, still deep in thought, Conan jumped nearly a foot in the air when the light flipped on.

A drowsy voice asked, "Conan-kun? What are you doing up?" Conan jerked around to see the resident police officer blinking wearily at him.

Attempting to slow his beating heart, Conan took a deep breath. "I couldn't sleep. Sorry."

"Oh, it's alright. Want to help me make breakfast?" Takagi smiled.

"Sure!" Conan smiled.

--

There was silence as they worked on compiling an edible portion of eggs and toast, but when the finally settled down at the table, Takagi struck up conversation.

"We'll need to bring you in for fingerprinting today. After that, they should have everything in order. If you like, we can register you for school at the local primary school during my lunch break."

"Okay. Does that mean I have to go to the daycare again today?"

"Yes. Sorry about that, but…"

"It's alright." Conan pouted and Wataru laughed.

--

Well, Conan had said it was alright, but he wasn't at all sure about that. Frankly, he wasn't at all sure he could stand another day in this torture chamber. The daycare instructor was watching him like a hawk, probably suspicious about his lack of records. Because of the instructor's attention on him, the other kids began to take notice of him and started gathering around him, demanding attention as well.

Shinichi would've cried if he'd been the sort. He'd never been good with kids. Why couldn't they bother someone else?

Finally, a uniformed officer stopped in and called for him. Practically fleeing the room, Conan was more than happy to follow.

No words were exchanged between them as they walked down the busy hallway until they arrived in forensics. A woman in a white lab coat beckoned him over.

"Hello, boya. I'm Nakamaru Shiori. How are you?" She smiled pleasantly at him.

"Fine." He murmured.

"Well, come here and I'll do the fingerprinting for you." She grasped his hand and slowly rolled each finger in the ink and then on the paper. "Now, we'll run this through the system for you and see what we can find."

With a series of beeps, different documents appeared on the computer screen and Conan sighed in relief. Kuroba had gotten the information into the system in time.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. Take these," She handed him a light manila folder, "and go head back to the daycare, okay?" She leaned down to hug him, much to his mortification.

--

Takagi breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the pile of paperwork was shrinking. His break would be coming up in ten minutes and then he'd head out to get Conan registered at school.

He chuckled lightly to himself. Conan truly was a relief. The poor boy must've been miserable in the daycare, but he didn't complain.

"What are you smiling about, Takagi-kun?" A feminine voice asked.

"Oh! Uh, Satou-san, um…I was, well, I was just thinking about Conan-kun." Takagi stuttered.

"Conan-kun? Oh, the kid you took in?"

"Yeah, he's – "

"Miwako-san!" A voice interrupted him. Wataru turned to see his superior, Shiratori Ninzaburo. Well, superior only in the loosest sense of the word. His pay was higher and he had a better title, but overall, they were practically the same rank. "Miwako-san, you're on break now, aren't you? Would you like to go out for some lunch?"

Takagi's shoulders sagged. Of course she would. Who wouldn't want to go out to lunch with a suave, sophisticated, wealthy police inspector?

"Sure, but hold on." Satou smiled. "I was just talking to Takagi-kun about the kid he'd taking care of."

Shiratori raised an eyebrow. "Oh? But shouldn't Takagi be working?" He smirked.

Wataru frowned. "Actually, my shift officially ended one minute ago."

Satou invited, "In that case, would you like to join us for lunch, Takagi-kun?"

Shiratori frowned and Wataru's heart soared, but he, sadly, had to decline. "Sorry, but I told Conan-kun I'd get him registered at school during my break. Thanks for asking, though."

Satou smiled at him. "No problem. Bring in a picture of Conan some time; I'd love to see him."

"Alright." Takagi grinned. "See you later." He headed off down to the nursery to bail Conan out.

--

They stopped at a small deli to pick up sandwiched before driving over to Beika Primary School.

"So, are you ready to start school, Conan-kun?"

"Yeah," He mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Takagi inquired with concern. "They didn't have trouble finding your records or anything, did they?"

"No, it's just… the forensics lady kept fawning over me." Conan pouted.

Wataru laughed. He couldn't blame the lady. He was sure that she wouldn't be the only one to fawn over Conan.

"She gave me these forms to give to the school." Conan said, holding out a folder. "It's mostly my birth certificate and a few forms from my old school."

"Alright, good. I have paperwork to prove I'm your current legal guardian, so we should have everything.

They did, fortunately. However, the process of enrolling him involved a whole lot of paperwork and it took most of Takagi's hour-long break.

"Well," The office secretary said, "you can come to school starting tomorrow, okay?"

Conan smiled stiffly at her. "Right."

Takagi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, if that's all, I'm afraid we need to be going. Bye." He rushed Conan out the door and into the car.

"Are you late?" Conan asked, amused.

"Just about." Takagi clinched his jaw. "We're gonna have to hurry."

Just then, a voice crackled out of his radio. "_All units available, there's been a murder in down town. All units available, converge at – _"

Takagi frowned. "Well, at least we won't technically be late. Sorry, Conan-kun, but I'll have to bring you along. Just stay out of everyone's way, okay?"

"'Kay." Conan grinned. A murder, just what he needed to cheer him up. Of course, it was bad that someone had died, but if it gave Conan a chance to solve a case…

They arrived just as the majority of the patrol cars did, along with the portly inspector of Division One.

"Megure-keibu," Takagi nodded. Down by his ankles, Conan did the same, though fortunately, no one seemed to notice.

"Takagi-kun, take statements from all the witnesses." Megure ordered. "What happened?"

"The victim is Fujie Akiyoshi, 22. Cause of death is the knife in his back, most likely instant death. His body was found in the apartment by Okino Yoko. Her manager, Yamagishi, was with her at the time. It was on the 25 floor, with the window locked and no entrances other than the door. The only fingerprints on the knife are Okino-san's." A uniformed officer told them, leading them to the room.

"This room is really hot." Megure said, tugging at his collar. "So you always have the heater on so strong?"

"No, never this powerful." The apartment owner, Okino Yoko, said, "And I turned all the power off when I left."

"That is quite strange…"

"That's not all that's strange, Keibu." Conan said, peering at the floor. "There are small dried water marks all around the body. And this chair next to the body," He pointed at the lone chair, "everything else in the room is knocked over, but this chair is standing." He explained.

"WHOSE KID IS THIS!?" Megure shouted.

Conan blinked. Whoops. That's right, he couldn't act like he'd used to as Kudo Shinichi.

"Ah, he's mine, Keibu." Takagi, who had just walked in, said.

"Yours?"

"I'm, uh, taking care of him for the moment." Takagi rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I'll keep him out of your way."

"You'd better." Megure growled.

"Yes sir." Takagi bowed, dragging Conan out of the room. "Conan-kun, you have to stay out of the way, alright? You really shouldn't be at the crime scene at all."

"I'm sorry." Conan said. He'd forgotten himself and handled the crime scene as he would've before. "But keiji," he called and Takagi turned, "the water and the chair _are_ weird."

Takagi smiled. "Alright. We'll see if they mean anything."

"'Kay."

--

"Do you have any ideas about who would bear a grudge against you, Okino-san?" Megure asked.

"N-no, no one."

Conan frowned, looking around the room and avoiding calling attention to himself. Something was missing, something important to the picture… He dropped onto all fours and looked in all the nooks and crannies. Ah ha!

"Keibu, under the sofa over there!" He began, tugging on Megure's pant leg.

"Takagi!" Megure shouted. "Keep your kid under control! Why would you even bring him to a crime scene."

"I'm sorry."

"Takagi-keiji, there's an earring under the sofa!" Conan said, hoping desperately that _someone_ would listen to him.

"Eh? Really?" Takagi followed him to the sofa and looked, pulling out the earring with his handkerchief. "An earring?"

"That's Yuko-san's!" Yoko exclaimed.

"Who?"

"Ikezawa Yuko-san, who made her debut the same time I did. We often work together, so I see her all the time. But why would Yuko-san's earring be in my apartment?"

"Y-Yes," The manager agreed, "I heard that Ikezawa Yuko bears a grudge against Yoko for taking away her acting role."

"Yuko-san's angry at me?" Yoko repeated sadly.

"Go find this Ikezawa Yuko. Bring her straight here, no point in going to the station." Megure ordered.

Yuko was brought in, although she entered in quite a huff. "Of course I was angry when Yoko got my acting spot, but this is a murder at her apartment, right? Why did you have to make me come all the way over here!? If you're mistrustful, shouldn't you be more worried about the owner of the place first?"

"You're most certainly correct, Ikezawa Yuko-san," Megure appeased, "The body had a knife from this apartment in its back, and we found no other fingerprints on it other than Okino-san's, and this is the 25 floor, so no one could get in without a key. However, your earring was found at the scene of the crime."

"Eh? Oh, I thought I'd lost it. Thanks for finding it." Yuko said, completely at ease.

"We also have the testimony of the manager downstairs that someone who looked like you was here."

"Well, it wasn't me." She huffed. "This is ridiculous, I'm going to use the restroom, _if you don't mind_."

Conan blinked up at her retreating form. 'Wait a minute…Yoko-san and Yuko-san…'

He scrambled over to Takagi-keiji. "Those two, Yoko-san and Yuko-san, they look alike from behind! And she knew where the bathroom here was!"

"You're right, Conan-kun, that is odd." Takagi turned to Yuko as she came out of the powder room. "Ikezawa-san, have you ever been to this apartment before?"

"No, of course not!"

"But you knew where the bathroom was, correct?"

"I – "

"That's right." Megure said. "How did you know the location of the bathroom if you've never been here before? Perhaps you came here and killed him?"

"I – no – I didn't kill him! He attacked me and I fought him off! I was here, trying to find something to hold back Yoko's career when this man came in and jumped at me. I fought him off and ran, that's when the earring must've fallen off." Yuko defended.

Megure frowned and turned back to Yoko. "What was your relationship with the victim?"

"I – In high school, I went out with him." She whispered. "He was my boyfriend!"

"So you killed him to end the relationship." Megure concluded.

"No! He was the one who dumped me, back in high school. When I became a famous idol, he kept stopping by, trying to get together again, but I wouldn't. I didn't kill him!"

Conan scratched at his hair in irritation. Who was the killer? Who could it have been?

"Conan-kun!" Takagi whispered. "Come here, stay away from the body outline, please." Takagi walked towards him, but his path was intercepted when he tripped over something on the floor and fell. "Ouch!"

"Look at this, keiji-san!" Conan pulled Takagi closer. "There's a small, circular indentation here that you tripped over. But why would it be here?"

Takagi frowned, rubbing his head. "It looks like something impaled into the floor. But what? And the water around the body, too…"

"What about the chair? It was the only thing standing. Almost like someone had used it for something…"

"That's it!" Takagi said. "We figured it out, Conan-kun! Megure-keibu, what if the culprit isn't any of these people? Look," Takagi guided the inspector over to the outline of the body. "This indentation here next to the body and the water around it show that this was not a murder, but that Fujie-san killed himself, with the help of the unnaturally hot temperature in this room. Fujie-san jumped off of the chair onto a block of ice holding the knife up. He landed on the knife and turned over to make it look like a murder while the room temperature melted the ice."

"B-but! Why would Fujie-kun do such a thing?" Yoko asked desperately.

"Perhaps he was still in love with you." Takagi suggested. "Most likely, he came here to ask you out once more and ran into Ikezawa instead. She looks like you from behind and he must've mistaken her for you. However, when she ran, he must have given up hope."

--

Driving back to the station was an interesting ordeal. Megure had Ikezawa-san brought in for trespassing and requested that the others come down to the station for statements, so each of them filed into a squad car while Conan hopped into Takagi's car and they took off as well.

"You were amazing in there, Conan-kun. Most people never would have noticed the clues you did. Good job, you helped save an innocent person from going to jail." Takagi smiled at him.

Conan grinned back. "Thanks, Takagi-keiji. Um…what happened with that case you were talking about yesterday, the missing detective or something?"

"Kudo Shinichi? He hasn't been heard from in 72 hours, so he'll be legally declared missing. I wonder what happened to him…he was always such a help to us in the past, solving crimes. I just hope he hasn't gotten himself into trouble. Another department handles missing persons cases, so I won't really know anything that happens to him directly, but he was well-known in our department. Whatever happens, Megure-keibu will find out. I just hope we don't get called in to work the case."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because if Division One gets summoned, it means there's been a homicide. I really hope he hasn't died."

Conan looked solemnly out the window. "Yeah, so do I." He whispered. "So do I."


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so I will admit that this story has been slightly abandoned. However, I found this file on my computer: 23 pages of a chapter that I felt wasn't finished yet. I can't get into it enough to add to it, so I guess you'll have to decide if it's finished. To anyone who liked this story, I'm sorry that I probably won't work on it much at all. There's always a possibility, but I can't make any promises.**

**Anyway, please enjoy!**

That night, Conan's sleep did not come easily. He was officially Edogawa Conan now. Kudo Shinichi was legally missing and they wouldn't find him. They _couldn't_ find him, because if they found him, they would be put in danger. And Shinichi _hated_ putting people in danger.

Morning came too slowly. While he wasn't looking forward to the day ahead of him – primary school would be torture – he needed the light. He wasn't going to admit anything, of course, but he was almost scared of the dark. He kept seeing shadows with long blonde hair jumping out at him. It was all a trick of his eyes, of course, but he would be glad to be rid of them with the morning sun.

When the clock finally hit a decent time, he left the room he'd come to inhabit and entered the bathroom. Takagi had been nice enough to find a stool for him; Conan was _not_ pleased to discover that he couldn't even reach the toilet bowl. On the other hand, the stool brought him to the level where he could see the mirror when washing his hands. He was beginning to hate mirrors. It wasn't his face peering out of it anymore, it wasn't him! But it _was_ him, it was who he was now. Nothing he could do would change that.

Finishing up in the bathroom, purposefully avoiding looking in the mirror for very long, he wandered into the living room where Takagi was just now rising, drowsy confusion on his face. "Conan-kun? What are you doing up already? Could you not sleep again?"

"No, I'm fine." Conan shook his head. "I'm – uh – excited…for school, you know?"

"Really? Well, I hope it lives up to your expectations. So, how does breakfast sound? I can't make much, but we've got materials for some simple Western-style breakfasts." Takagi said, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay. If you have cereal, I can make it on my own." Conan said, heading into the kitchen.

"All right. I'll be in the bathroom." Takagi said.

"Ne, Keiji-san," Conan began as they drove in Takagi's car towards the school where he'd be dropped off. "Will you be off your shift in order to pick me up?" He asked.

"Oh," Takagi glanced at him. "Well, I asked for some time off in the afternoons to take care of you, but…well, I can catch breaks to get you home, but I'm afraid I can't stay with you. Will you be okay on your own?"

"Hai. Can I go to the park and stuff? I'll have my phone with me."

Takagi bit his lip. "Well, I suppose. It's not like you'd find a lot to do at home, anyway. But be careful, alright? And make sure to call me no matter what if something happens."

"I will!" Conan chirped just as they pulled into the school parking lot. Exiting the car, he looked at the building with trepidation. He'd never use the word scared, but…well, he'd never been exactly talented at making friends and the fact that all his classmates would be ten years younger than him didn't really help.

The school was familiar to him; it was the same one he'd attended when he'd been this age the first time through, but it seemed so _big_ now. He was sure it had been the same as before, but it had been a long time since he was this small; his perspective hadn't been quite like this for a great deal of time.

Traveling through the school until he reached the ground floor teacher's office, Conan ignored all the other kids walking around him. He knocked on the door and slipped it open, walking up to one of the teachers. She turned to look at him and smiled. "Ohayo. You must be Conan-kun. I'm Toya-sensei. I hope we get along well."

"Um, yeah." Conan smiled awkwardly.

"Why don't you come with me and we'll go to the classroom, okay?" She said as a bell rang. As they walked, she began to converse kindly with him, or at least tried to. He didn't make it easy for her.

"Do you have all your school supplies, Conan-kun?" Toya-sensei asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you looking forward to class?"

"Sure," He deadpanned.

Slightly discouraged, she continued, "Have you always lived in Japan?"

"Mostly."

"Has your family moved a lot?"

"Uh-huh."

"Um, well, do you like where you live?"

"Yup."

Toya-sensei was beginning to look rather strained, trying to come up with some strain of conversation the boy would be willing to follow.

"Do you like theme parks?"

Conan cast her a dark look, much to her confusion. However, before any more could be said, they arrived at the classroom. Brightening, the teacher led him to the front-center of the room and introduced him.

"Class, this is your new friend, Edogawa Conan-kun. From now on, Conan-kun will be joining our class. We'll spend the beginning of the day showing him around the school, all right?"

The class nodded, giggling over his bizarre name, but Conan, blushing bright red, interrupted. "N-no, that's alright! J-just continue with the lesson, please. I can find my own way around," he insisted.

Everyone looked at him strangely, but eventually their attentions waned and class continued. "Okay everyone, what's one plus one?"

"Two!" Multiple enthusiastic voices yelled out. Conan's head collided with the desk.

The final bell could not come too soon. He could swear his brain was melting, relearning all this stuff. For god's sake, they couldn't even add single digits past one properly! He was more than ready to scram as soon as permitted.

His efforts were deterred, however, when a pretty girl with long dark hair ducked her head in front of him, a huge grin on her face. "Hello, Conan-kun!"

"Um, hi." He muttered.

"I'm Yoshida Ayumi!" Her grin looked like it was getting bigger. She motioned to a rather plump boy standing behind her, "This is Kojima Genta-kun. Let's be friends!"

"Uh…sure…"

"Yay!" Throwing her hands up in joy, the little girl then proceeded to hug him. _Hard_.

"Ulp! Um, Ayumi…chan….can't….breathe…" He choked.

"Eh? Oh, sorry, Conan-kun!" Ayumi clasped her hands under her chin. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Um, I gotta go…my ride is waiting for me." He scurried out the door. "Bye!"

Behind him, Ayumi cocked her head. "Ride? Does he mean his parents?"

"He's weird." Genta said, crossing his arms.

Conan reached the parking lot and found Takagi waiting for him in a white Chevrolet. Quickly, he hurried over to the car and hopped in the back.

"You seem awfully rushed." Takagi commented, amused.

"I just got hugged within inches of my life." Conan muttered.

Takagi laughed. "Well, do you want me to drop you off at the park? I'm afraid I have to be back at the station soon, but I can leave you with money for food."

"Okay." Conan nodded. "Thanks, Takagi-keiji." He waved and filed out of the car. As it drove off, he was now stuck with the question of what to do.

He began walking around the park, thinking deeply. Kudo Shinichi was officially missing now. Ran, Agasa, his parents…they'd all think he was missing. Should he contact them, tell them he wasn't? But…maybe it was better that they didn't know. If they didn't know he was alive then they couldn't tell anyone that he was and they couldn't get into trouble for knowing he was alive.

But…he _wanted _to tell them, wanted them to know he wasn't dead, wasn't lost. But how could he without putting them in danger? And he wouldn't do that, not a chance. He worked to protect people, there was no way he'd willingly put someone in danger.

But could he keep this from them? Sure, he wouldn't be seeing them, most likely, but…if something came up…

Oh, what the hell, they wouldn't believe it was him, anyway. Who would believe that a high school student could turn into a primary school student? Although…Kuroba-kun had believed him, hadn't he? Of course, he had more of the story…and more of the proof. He _knew_ that Conan had to have come from somewhere and that he didn't have any proof of where he came from before. Now, though, now he had all that proof. Now, his records were on a public system. So really, who would believe he was actually Kudo Shinichi?

On his journey through the park, Conan came across an abandoned soccer ball and started kicking it around. So, was he going to let everyone around him think he was missing? If the police filed a missing persons report, those criminals wearing black would probably assume that they hadn't found his body. But…what if they sent people looking for him? And what if someone found Edogawa Conan?

"Hey, Conan!"

Conan blinked, letting the ball he'd been subconsciously playing with fall to the ground with a thud, and turned to see who had called for him. The Kudo Shinichi look alike he'd recently befriended grinned at him, waving.

"Kur- uh, Kaito-niichan," Conan greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Something I should be asking you, I think." Kaito said, "I'm on my way home. You?"

"Takagi-keiji has to work and didn't think I'd be able to entertain myself at home."

"Ah. You know, that was some pretty impressive footwork with that ball there."

"You think so?" Conan shrugged, "I played soccer a lot when I was younger…er, the first time around. It helps me think to kick something around."

"Hmm. Hey, you got some time now, right? Let's sit and chat. We've got a bit to discuss." Kaito motioned to a bench near them.

"Sure. What's up?"

"Well, first off, I was thinking and these people who attacked you, will they be satisfied if a body isn't discovered? Because, you know, it may be possible to fake one if you really need to."

"Er, I'd rather not worry about that at the moment. I know that in order to be Conan I've had to break more than a few laws, but I'd like to hope that I can somehow go back to being Shinichi eventually."

"Okay then. Next, I was tinkering around with some stuff last night and made a little something you might like. Those glasses of yours, they're just frames, right?" Kaito asked.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, but –"

"Good. I didn't think you'd need a prescription. All the pictures of you as a teenager show you without glasses, though you could have had contacts. But, your eyes don't look like they're blocked by glass, even though you're wearing the frames, so…" Kaito held out a hand, covered it with a cloth and counted off "1, 2, 3, Pon!" and a pair of glasses that looked just like Conan's appeared out of nowhere, sitting innocently in his hand.

Conan took them, staring. "And, uh, what's so special about these?"

"Well, I was playing around with some tracking technology and managed to make a small transmitter that will send a signal to these glasses within 20 kilometers each way. See, you just press this little button on the side of the frames and a small antenna pops up and you can see the range on the lens." He demonstrated while talking. "The transmitters are kind of like stickers, so just place 'em on something and you can find them as long as they're in range. Should come in handy for you, no?"

Conan's eyes were as round as saucers. "Whoa. And it works in a 20 kilometer radius?" Kaito nodded proudly, still grinning. "Are you sure it's a good idea to give me this? If I were to stick one of these on you and track it to a Kid heist, it could bring about more evidence than you're prepared for."

Kaito shrugged. "And who would listen to a little kid? No offense. Besides, then you get to tell those dear police officers just where you got this nifty little gadget and won't that be an interesting conversation, depending on the information you're trying to give?"

Shinichi could see it now. 'Well, Officer, I know who the Kaitou Kid is because he gave me these tracking glasses that allowed me to track him.' Yeah, that would _not_ go over very well. "Okay, whatever. Thanks."

"No problem. After all, I think they can be more useful for you rather than me. Not unless Kid could modify his monocle for something like that, but that might get a little distracting while steering the hang glider, no?" Kaito's grin was shark-like now. He had no problem admitting a possible connection to Kid when Conan couldn't prove a damn thing. Besides, Conan had already figured out that much. "Anyway, I'm good at making little things like that. If I end up making anymore, would you be interested?"

"Yeah!" Conan nodded. "This is seriously cool, Kuroba-kun."

"Ah-ah-ah. We're in public, Conan-chan. It's Kaito-niichan while we're out here." Kaito waggled his finger.

Conan glared. "Hai, Kai-nii!" He suddenly chirped, the perfect picture of an excited young kid.

Kuroba shrugged. "Well, I suppose that works, too. Now, what time does Takagi-san get off of work?"

"Around 5:30 to 6, I think. Why?" Conan asked.

"Well, I've got the time. Wanna play some soccer? Though I have to warn you, I've never played before." Kaito offered.

Slowly, a grin spread across Conan's face. "All right. The idea is to get the ball in the opposite goal and to _not_ let it get in your goal."

"I think I can handle that much." Kaito laughed.

That evening, Conan came home with a smile. He could honestly say that spending the afternoon with Kuroba playing soccer was the most fun he'd had since he'd been changed.

"Conan-kun? Are you back?"

"Hai. Tadima." He chimed back with a genuine smile on his face.

"Are you tired?" Takagi asked, entering the kitchen and fastening a tie.

"Not really." Conan blinked at him, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, and you're coming." Conan sent him a questioning look. "My partner was curious about you, so she invited us to dinner in order to meet you."

"Dinner?" Shinichi felt a knowing grin stretching over his face. "_She_?"

Takagi turned bright red. "Yes, well," he cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're going to dinner with her…and her mother."

"Her _mother_!" Conan echoed in disbelief. This lady had the perfect excuse to cover up a date – meeting him – and she was bringing her _mother_!

"Her mother is very interested in Satou-san's…colleagues…"

Conan grinned again. A woman that enjoyed playing matchmaker, huh? Maybe he could have fun with this…

On the other hand, maybe not. Instead of fawning over Takagi like the mother should have been, she was cooing over him. Heck, he didn't even know who she was yet. She hadn't waited for introductions before attacking Conan.

"Mother!" A pretty woman with short hair wearing an attractive low cut shirt and a skirt frowned. "Leave the kid alone!"

The lady complied, releasing her hold on Conan and the pretty woman smiled at him. "I'm Satou Miwako. I'm Takagi-kun's partner down at the precinct. That," She looked disparagingly up at the smiling female, "is my mother. You can ignore her." She glared.

Conan grinned. "Nice to meet you!"

"So, how did you end up with Takagi-kun?" Satou asked.

"Oh, I…well, I ran into him and he said I could stay with him." Conan answered hesitantly. That sounded terrible, but what could he say? He wasn't about to mention the fact that he was actually seventeen and that he'd run into Takagi, literally, when running away from a ton of other officers.

"Oh? How sweet of him." The mother cooed. "And, Takagi-san, how have you been getting along with my daughter?"

"Eh?" Takagi went bright red. "Um, w-we work well together." He said hesitantly. "Um, we solve lots of cases…"

"No, no, I don't mean your _work_."

"Mother!" Satou growled indignantly.

"Well, dear, I simply want to know what's going on with you. And seeing as you won't tell me anything…"

Miwako sighed deeply and slumped over the table. "Forget it. Anyway, Conan-kun, how are you enjoying staying with Takagi-kun?"

Conan blinked at her around a mouthful of his kids meal. Swallowing, he smiled innocently up at her, "It's really fun. Takagi-keiji always makes sure I'm okay."

Takagi blushed deeply and Miwako beamed. "Really? And how is school going for you? Takagi-kun mentioned you just started…today, was it?"

"Yeah. It's kinda…fun, I guess, but really boring." Shinichi answered absent-mindedly.

Wataru grinned at this. "You think the work is too easy for you?"

"Some of it." Conan nodded. The getting along with people ten years younger than him was the hardest part.

"Really? What sort of education background do you have?" Satou asked. Takagi opened his mouth to translate the big words that Conan shouldn't know, but was shocked when Conan answered simply.

"Well, I went to school in America before moving here and I was in a higher placement…thing."

"Oh, you're from America?" Miwako questioned, not noticing Takagi's state of shock as she cut her own meal. "I've always been interested in American culture. What was it like there?"

"Um, well, you know, it was sort of like anywhere. There wasn't a lot of…culture, so to speak. Everyone just sort of did their own thing." Shinichi answered, calling upon memories of trips to the United States to visit his parents.

Speaking of his parents, they would've been informed of their son's disappearance by now. What would they do about it? He zoned out of the conversation, wondering. His mother would no doubt be upset and his father…he'd be stern, the one in control, just like he always was. He'd demand the police for all the information they had on the case – which Shinichi was sure was nothing – and then he'd go about investigating on his own.

What if he found Conan? What would he do then?

He could just imagine the lectures his mother would give him for scaring her, hugging him all the while. And his father…oh, he'd be mad, Shinichi was sure. He'd be angry Shinichi hadn't called him the moment it had happened and asked for help.

But Shinichi wasn't going to ask for help. He could get by perfectly well on his own, had for years since they'd left him here and gone to America. Sure, things had changed a little, but he was sure he could deal. Besides, it wasn't like he was without support. He had Kuroba, who knew the secret and was willing to help him, and he had Takagi who, even though he didn't know who Conan really was, was always willing to support the kid. Besides, Takagi _listened_ to him. None of the other adults he'd run into would.

"Conan? Conan-kun? Are you okay?" Speaking of Takagi…

"Eh? Oh, I'm fine." Conan smiled. "I was just thinking."

"All right." Takagi said, relieved. "So –" He was cut off but the ringing of his partner's cell phone, which she quickly answered, speaking fast.

Hanging up, she turned to them with an apologetic expression on her face. "I'm sorry. That was Megure-keibu. We need to get to the station, Takagi-kun. Apparently someone has come in with information concerning a recently discovered corpse. You know, the one from the fire two nights ago in Gunma Prefecture?" She said grimly. "The victim's ID left behind with the corpse gave us a picture to put on the news. Looks like someone knew them and came in with information.

Takagi grimaced. "I'll have to bring Conan-kun along. My apartment's on the other side of town, we wouldn't have time to drop him off."

Satou nodded. "My mother will have to come along as well." She turned to them, a stern look on her face. "You two need to stay out of the way, alright? This is serious business."

"Yes ma'am." Both Conan and the Satou matriarch said, rolling their eyes, although for separate reasons.

"Megure-keibu?" Takagi asked, entering the bullpen. Satou walked silently behind him and both Conan and the Satou Matriarch stood off to the side, the young boy as attentive as ever.

"Ah, Takagi-kun, good. I need you to double check the life insurance policy of Negishi Masaki-san, the victim. Our initial report said it was five hundred million yen, but obviously, with numbers that high, we'd like to double check. Satou-kun, come with me to get a statement from Mouri-kun." Megure ordered. Takagi nodded and headed out again, patting Conan briefly on the head. Conan was completely unresponsive, staring at Megure-keibu with a horrorstricken look on his face.

Mouri? No, it couldn't be, it just couldn't! How could –?

Miwako looked confused. "'Mouri-kun,' sir?"

"Yes. Mouri Kogoro. He used to work with the department, but…" Megure shook his head, "He became a freelance detective, but it didn't work out so well. Frankly, I was surprised when I got the call. It appears Mouri-kun was tailing that fire victim, Negishi-san, for three days. Why, I don't know. That's part of what we need to find out."

"I see." Satou turned back to her mother. "Stay here with Conan-kun, okay?"

"But –" Conan protested. Satou's glare made him fall silent. "Okay."

Conan rocked on his heels, frowning deeply. Dammit. He'd managed to get into a position where he could solve cases, except he couldn't because he was a child! He sighed. He was stupid to think he'd be able to do anything in this stupid body.

Deep in self-pity, he jumped in surprise when the door slammed open and Takagi reentered the station, escorting a stereotypical-looking businessman wearing glasses. He ushered the man into the room Megure and Satou had disappeared into before turning to Conan again.

"I'm sorry you're bored, Conan-kun." He said apologetically.

"Who was that man?" Conan asked, fishing for information.

"Abe Yutaka-san. He's the beneficiary of Negishi-san's will. Apparently, he also hired Mouri Kogoro-san to follow Negishi-san."

"But why would he do that?"

"I don't know. Anyway, I need you to stay quiet, okay? I'll take you home the first chance I get."

"Hai," Conan frowned, staring after Takagi as he left. If he could just follow them in and hear the information, he was sure he could solve the case. Biting his lip, he glanced over at the Satou matriarch, who was occupied chatting with passing officers and staring at the wall. Silently, he slid over bit by bit until he was right next to the door. Praying the no one would notice him, he stretched onto his tiptoes and edged the door open a crack, thankful that the doorknob handle allowed him to hang off of it, using his own weight to open the door.

He hated being so short. It made everything more complicated and difficult to do.

His stunt had done the trick, though. He couldn't see much through the crack, but seeing wasn't important anyway – he probably wouldn't be tall enough to see anything they indicated anyway. What was important, however, was the fact that he could hear people yelling – and yes, that was definitely Mouri Kogoro's unpleasant screech. Damn.

"We had known each other for twenty years since college. One day, when we were having a drink together, he said, 'we're forty-two now…not spring chickens anymore. You want to make a bet to see who can live longer?' Well, I told him it sounded like an interesting idea, so I agreed and we set the bet at five hundred million yen." Conan couldn't see the one talking, but he guessed it was the man Takagi had brought in. Turning, he settled himself against the wall next to the crack, grinning widely to himself. He may not be able to get into the police questioning, but he could still get the data he needed to solve the case.

A couple of passing officers stared at the strange boy with the evil-looking smirk on his face and gave him a wide berth. Kids these days were _weird_.

"So you both took out five hundred million yen life insurance policies with each other as the beneficiary?" Megure concluded.

"Of course, I didn't think the game would end after only three months…" That other guy again. What did Takagi say his name was? Abe, right?

"So why did you send Mouri-kun to shadow him?" Megure asked. Conan frowned. Why had Takagi and Satou been called in if they weren't even asking any questions, anyway? Oh well. At least Megure was asking all the right questions. He could probably solve it, too, if Mouri butted out and didn't lead him down the wrong path.

"Oh…it was no major reason. A couple of days ago, he came to me and said, 'I'm being followed…I'm going to be killed soon.'"

"Killed!"

"Yes. At first I thought he was joking, but his manner seemed too abnormal. I had him investigated for three days, to make sure he was safe. Right, Mouri-san?" A short growl answered him, presumably from Mouri. "Well, I have work, so I must leave you now. I am the president of a small company, so I am usually rather busy. I would appreciate if you could find the person who killed him."

"Sure," Mouri barked, "if we find out, I'll be sure to tell you first."

"I'll be eagerly awaiting you, Tantei-san." Footsteps echoed on the polished floor and Conan sidled far enough away from the door that he didn't look conspicuous. His eyes narrowed as they followed their only suspect's trail out of the station.

"Damn, I can't think of anyone who could have done it other than him," Megure groaned, "but he's got an alibi."

"A perfect alibi." Mouri confirmed. "Backed up by me, dammit. The body was found Thursday evening, the night of the Himatsuri, and I had been following him up until Wednesday night. Therefore, Negishi-san must've been killed sometime between Wednesday night after I halted surveillance and Thursday evening."

"Abe-san, however, was on a company trip during that time and didn't arrive until Friday night." A thud resounded, prompting Conan to look back inside the room. Apparently, Megure had simply slammed his fist onto the table.

"Hey, boya, you shouldn't be looking in there!" A familiar female voice scolded. He jumped a mile, banging his head against the doorknob. Eyes watering in pain, he turned to look at the visage of a girl he'd been friends with for as long as he could remember.

She was really tall. And scary looking, her face partially shadowed from the angle he was at, giving her eyes a creepy glowing quality. He swallowed. This wasn't really how he had wanted to meet his childhood friend again. At least she hadn't manhandled him or something, though.

"How did you even get in here? I wouldn't think the officers would let a child into the station to just lurk around." Mouri Ran put her hands on her hips, frowning contemplatively. "Oh well. Come on, you shouldn't be here. You can wait outside for whatever it is you need."

"Ah, wait, I'm not…" He yelped when she grabbed his arm, dragging him away from the room. He couldn't leave now; what if there was something more to the case! He also really didn't want to be alone with Ran right now, no matter how pleased he was to see her again. She knew him better than almost anyone and if she recognized him… "Satou-baasan!" He shrieked in an exaggerated whisper. Takagi had told him to be quiet, after all, and he didn't want to risk making an enemy out of Megure-keibu. The head of Division One could ensure that he never set foot in the station again if he didn't have a crime to report or a statement to give. Generally, he wouldn't mind that, but there was a possibility the police would work a case with those bastards that changed him involved. He'd do anything he could to find them. "Satou-baasan!" He called again, catching the attention of the officers whose desks in the bullpen were closest to them and, fortunately, Satou-baasan.

"Oh, Conan-chan. And who are you?" The older lady blinked at Ran.

"Oh! Um, is he with you?" Ran blushed brightly – or so he assumed, anyway. He'd known her long enough to know that a situation like this would embarrass her, but he couldn't actually see he face when he was standing by her side. Looking up simply gave him a view either up her skirt, which he was trying not to think to hard about, or of her, ahem, buxom assets – and released his arm immediately. "I'm so sorry, it's just, well, he was looking into that office there and he really shouldn't have been, so…"

"Oh, it's all right. I quite understand. He's not actually with me, but that Taki fellow is inside with Miwako and her boss." She smiled charmingly at Ran before turning to him with a frown. "Conan-chan, you should know better. Didn't Taki-san tell you to stay quiet over here?"

Conan laughed sheepishly, wincing internally at the _chan_. "It's, um, _Takagi_-keiji, actually. And I wanted to see what was going on!"

"Oh, is it? Oops," she giggled, daintily. "I'm sure Taki, er, Takagi-san will tell you later, Conan-chan."

"Haaai," Conan pouted, telling himself that it was to enforce his kiddy act and he wasn't really pouting.

Ran bowed to Satou-baasan, introducing herself. Satou responded in kind, although Conan had to speak up to introduce himself properly when she tried to address him as "Taki Conan-chan". As Ran and Satou-baasan began talking, both subsequently forgetting his presence entirely, he found himself smiling softly, backing up enough so that he could actually see Ran's face. It was good to see that she was okay, even if he could see traces of worry and pain in her slumped posture and dark eyes.

It hurt, to know that he was responsible for it. He'd never wanted to hurt his friend, never wanted her to face the harsh truth of his cases. He tried to tell her the bare minimum of every case, keeping everything simply factual. When you dealt only with fact, cases were nothing but a compilation of clues and evidence. It was only when you brought in the emotional factors that you realized that it was a dead body you dealt with and someone had taken their life, usually for some desperate, emotional reason. Emotions made the case real, made it hurt to understand. It was better if she never say that dimension to his work. Of course, there were times he couldn't shield her from it, like that case on the roller coaster the night he changed – that case and the successive events had been plaguing his dreams ever since, reminding him each and every time of how his friend had cried because of his work. Still, he tried as hard as he could to shelter her, only for it now to be brought upon her shoulders when he wasn't there to support her.

Her best friend was missing, possibly dead as far as she knew. And he couldn't tell her about Conan, couldn't even let her know that he was alright. It hurt, gods, it practically killed him to see the redness of her eyes that showed she'd been crying, but it was better for her to be in pain than to be a cold corpse no longer capable of feeling anything. Now, if he just told himself that enough times, maybe it would stop hurting so much.

He was startled out of his thoughts when the very person who'd been on his mind bent down in front of him, a gentle smile on her face. "I'm sorry for scolding you earlier, Conan-kun. For future reference, though, don't go wandering around the station without permission, okay? I remember a friend of mine used to get scolded for doing things like that. At any rate, it was nice to meet you. Bye, Conan-kun," she waved, moving to follow her father out of the station.

Blinking, he realized that the conference in the office must have finished as Megure, Satou, Mouri, and Takagi were all filing out, Megure heading to his desk, frowning at the stack of paperwork he was holding and the rest of them heading towards where Conan was to meet the individuals they had waiting for them. Takagi and Satou approached them, faces grim.

"Ah, Takagi-keiji! What happened?" Conan half-demanded, shaking the depressing thoughts off of him completely. He had a case to work on now and he couldn't afford to become distracted. He could worry about what he was doing to Ran later. For now, he had a killer to catch and an alibi to crack…somehow.

Takagi heaved a weary sigh. "Basically, we have one suspect for the corpse that was found in Gunma a few nights ago. Unfortunately, that suspect also has a perfect alibi." He groaned, "Megure-keibu gave us the suspect's schedule and pictures from his vacation – the reason he has a perfect alibi – but if we can't find any holes…we're stuck."

Miwako stared at him. "Jeez, Takagi-kun! How can you go revealing so much to a child!"

Takagi jumped as if he'd forgotten her presence. "Ah! W-well, he has helped before and it does sometimes help to say things aloud to help sort out the facts." He grinned sheepishly, a blush spreading across his cheeks. "I guess dinner is completely canceled since we need to work on this. Are you still hungry or anything, Conan-kun? I can grab something on the way home that we can fix at the house."

Conan nodded, "okay."

"Good. Let's get going then." He bowed slightly to the Satous before taking Conan's hand and ushering him out of the station.

"Are you just dropping me off?" Conan asked, already plotting some way to get his hands on those photos.

"No. Since I have to bring you home anyway and Satou-san has to drop off her mother and Mouri-san also requested a set of the photos, Megure-keibu just had a ton of copies made and sent us home to work on them all. We're to call in immediately if we find something, but we're fairly hopeless at this point. Fortunately, Abe-san can't leave any time soon, so it's not like we're working within a time limit."

"I see," Conan grinned. Good. Takagi would probably let him see the photographs. It was only a matter of time. He'd see through this Abe-san's lies no matter what and bring the killer to justice. That was his job, after all, no matter what size he currently was.

As soon as they got home, Takagi shoved everything off his cluttered table. Over one end, he spread the photos from Abe-san's trip. At the other, he pulled up two chairs and spread an array of snacks in bowls and plates. "Help yourself, Conan-kun, but be sure you don't get anything on the pictures, alright?"

"'Kay," Conan chorused happily, jumping into one of the chairs. He grabbed a few handfuls of crackers and crunched idly on them while inspecting the photos over Takagi's shoulder.

Takagi ruffled through the photos time and time again, frowning deeply. "If it was a domestic trip, he could have taken the pictures and finished his business and still return on short notice. However, his alibi has no cracks. He was on a business trip from Wednesday morning to Friday night. All night Wednesday, he was playing Mahjong with his employees. He went on a bus tour all day Thursday and has the pictures to prove it. Negishi-san's murder is believed to have taken place Thursday night, so there's no way Abe-san could've made it back in time. The only time on Thursday the photos don't account for is a two hour period where he took a nap before noon. But still, there's not enough time to go from Kyushu to the murder scene. Ugh," Takagi groaned, running his hands through his hair in frustration and leaning back, mindful of the boy perched next to him. "It doesn't make sense! There's no one else with a motive to kill Negishi-san, but Abe-san _can't_ have done it!"

Conan frowned around a cracker he was munching on and tried to clear his mind of predisposed notions. If he let himself be biased, he could botch the whole case. No, as Holmes said, he had to twist his theory to fit the facts, and not twist the facts to fit his theory. "Are you sure there's no one else with a motive? No one at all?"

"Yeah. Megure-keibu checked it out, but it really seems that Negishi-san had no real contact with anyone close to him during the time Mouri-tantei was trailing him, which was from Monday until Wednesday evening. The people close to him were already questioned and checked out anyway, and none of them had motives or even anything strange about their statements."

"Really?" Conan brought a hand to his chin, rubbing it contemplatively, a sight Takagi found terribly cute, especially since he still had half a cracker sticking out of his mouth that he was talking around. "So that does only leave…eh?" Brushing his hands off on his pants and pulling a handkerchief, he reached forward and grabbed a photo, brought it close to his face, discarded it, and grabbed another, repeating the process.

Takagi stared at him. 'Okay,' he thought to himself, 'I know I said that he should be careful not to get anything on the pictures, but what kind of kid carries around a handkerchief that they then use to avoid getting fingerprints on a photograph? I mean, wouldn't most kids just grab is without caring that they could smudge the picture?' He tilted his head to the side and regarded Conan closely before smiling slightly. 'Oh well. It's not like it matters. I should just be glad that Conan _is_ considerate enough to avoid smudging the pictures. Wonder what caught his eye all of a sudden, anyway.'

"What is it, Conan-kun?" He asked curiously. "Did you notice something?"

"Eh?" Conan blinked at him, as if suddenly remembering that there was someone else there. "Oh! Uh," he laughed nervously, putting the pictures down and tucking his handkerchief away. "I-I just…it's, um, a bit weird, isn't it? I mean, maybe he just really likes clocks, but it's strange, isn't it? To get a shot with a clock in it for every single picture?"

Takagi blinked, scanning over the pictures to confirm that yes, there was a clock in each of them. "How strange," he murmured. "Even if he liked clocks, normally, he'd just get pictures of the clocks individually, right? Or maybe one or two with him standing near or holding a height-level clock. But to have a clock that he's usually not even taking notice of in every one of his pictures…it's strange."

"It's almost as if he took them just to corroborate his alibi!" Conan exclaimed, suddenly changing from a serious voice to a high pitched, excited, voice more naturally associated with children. "But why would he feel the need to prove his alibi before the murder ever happened?" He asked, wonder exaggerated in his tone.

Takagi sweatdropped. What was with this kid? Did he suffer from mood swings or something? That aside… "Yeah, you have a point. Unless he knew something was going to happen, there should have been no need to so meticulously prove that he was where he says he was at any specific time. Still," he shook his head, "that certainly makes Abe-san look suspicious, but it's much too thin to hold through as proof." He sighed, "if only we had something more…"

"Isn't there anything?" Conan questioned desperately. "Anything at all? Like…I don't know, maybe a statement regarding the suspect? Or…just something?"

Takagi shook his head. "Nothing at all. The only thing that made Abe-san suspicious in the first place was the life insurance policy and the fact that he hired Mouri-tantei to tail the victim. But beyond that and what we've just found…there's really nothing to tie him to the crime, especially considering that he _does_ have the perfect alibi."

"Damn," Conan muttered, drawing a scolding look from Takagi. He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head in a self-conscious way. He winced when doing so reminded him of the fact that he'd injured his head recently, even if the bandages had been removed. "Sorry."

Jeez, Shinichi grumbled internally, was it really that big of a deal for a kid to curse? Sure, it was rude and offensive and all that, but it wasn't like he'd even used a very serious curse. So really, Takagi's look shouldn't have made him feel guilty like it did. He'd done nothing to be guilty over! 'In the future, I think I'll add cursing to my "Watch What I Say" list'.

At any rate, this case wasn't adding up. Was it possible that Abe-san killed Negishi-san? But how? Mouri-jiisan was following Negishi-san the whole time and Abe-san has an alibi and…oh, wait.

"Ne, Takagi-keiji, if Mouri-tantei was following Negishi-san for Abe-san, wouldn't he have had to document his actions somehow? I mean, if you are hired by a man to follow his wife, you'd take pictures of the wife to show the husband, right?"

"That's true. But even if Mouri-tantei took pictures of the deceased, why should it matter? It's not like this was a suicide case." Takagi stated. "On the other hand, I suppose we have no other real leads. I'll phone Megure-keibu and let him know." He searched through his pockets until he finally found his cell phone, smiling sheepishly as Conan cocked an eyebrow at the pile of junk he'd pulled out of his pockets.

"Are these…sticky notes?" Conan asked, prodding one with his index finger.

"Ah, yeah. I write reminders to myself and stick them in my pockets, but I seem to forget about them too often for them to really be of any use."

"So I see," Conan grinned, brandishing a bright pink sticky note that read 'buy Christmas present for Mom' on it. Christmas was…a while ago.

Takagi blushed, sticking his tongue out at Conan as he dialed Megure's number. He quickly relayed the suspicious characteristics of the photographs and the request for Mouri-san's own pictures from his surveillance.

After he hung up, he began to sort through the sticky notes, adding a few more to the pile as he continued to empty out his pockets. Most of the notes looked as if they'd been through the wash more than once and a couple were even in shreds.

Conan had to laugh, even if it was more of a small, exasperated gust of air. Takagi was certainly an interesting guy.

School the next day was absolute torture, more so than the day before because he _knew_ that Takagi was working on the case and all he could do was sit in kiddy school and pretend he didn't know what two plus three was. To make matters worse, the wonder of being the new kid had yet to wear off, so he kept getting looks from the other kids all through class and during breaks, a group of them would swarm around his desk and try to get him to answer questions.

The only good thing, he supposed, was that his 'new friends', Ayumi and Genta, took it upon themselves to protect him from the overwhelming attention of the rest of the class. The drawback was, however, that they accomplished this by forcing him to focus his attention on them and only them.

By the end of it all, Conan was absolutely exhausted. Dealing with kids was a lot harder than anyone would believe.

"Conan-kun, Genta-kun and I are going to the arcade after school. You should come! We invited Mitsuhiko-kun, too! Have you met him yet?" Without waiting for his reply, she turned and waved her hands wildly, shouting, "heeeeeey, Mitsuhiko-kuuuuuuun! Come over here and meet Conan-kun!"

Conan winced, grudgingly rubbing his ears. Why were kids so loud? Was there really any need to shout?

A young boy with freckles wandered over to them, a science book hanging from his fingers. "What is it, Ayumi-chan?"

"It's Conan-kun," she exclaimed, as if the matter was of all importance, "he hasn't met you yet!"

"Uh," Conan smiled awkwardly, "hi."

Mitsuhiko blinked, "hi." He looked from Ayumi to Conan in confusion before turning and glancing around him.

"Oh," Conan said, "you were absent yesterday, weren't you?" He grinned at Mitsuhiko's shocked face, "I'm new as of yesterday, so that would explain why you were so confused about where I came from."

"Um. Y-yeah, I guess." Mitsuhiko laughed sheepishly. "I'm Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko. Pleased to meet you." He bowed slightly.

Conan nodded. "Edogawa Conan. Nice to meet you."

"So, you're coming to the arcade with us after school, right Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked him, hands clasped in front of her in a begging gesture.

…He wondered what it said about him that he was terrified of telling a little girl 'no'. After all, it wasn't like she was Ran. She wouldn't blindside him just because he wasn't cooperating properly…right?

"Ah, um…I…I really can't, Ayumi-chan," he said softly, hoping desperately that she wouldn't do something scary like cry, "I'm really sorry, but I gotta go straight home after school. It's really important." After all, Takagi should be getting the pictures form Mouri-jiisan. There was no way he was letting this case pass him by. He had faith that the police could solve it – hopefully – but he _needed_ this case, strange as it sounded. After everything that had happened with the shrinking and all, he needed the stability of a good case and he wasn't going to let anything keep him from solving it. "Sorry."

Ayumi gave him a heartbroken look, as if it really hurt that someone she hardly knew would turn her down. "But...but, Conan-kun…don't you want to play with your friends?"

Conan blinked. Friends? They'd hardly met. How could she consider them friends already?

He'd never made a friend that easily before. Even with Ran, whom he'd been friends with practically all his life. With Ran, it had taken them a long while to actually get along. It wasn't that they didn't like each other, but more…their parents had forced them together, left them alone together with nothing to do while they went off and conversed. So they'd been stuck, staring awkwardly at each other until Ran had finally decided that enough was enough and standing around staring for four hours was a bit much. So she'd marched up to him, bowed clumsily, and smiled. 'Come on,' she had said, 'there's no point in just standing here. Let's play something.'

Conan shook his head, bringing himself back to the present, but he couldn't stop the soft smile that had formed on his lips, both at the precious memory and at the young girl in front of him that had brought it to mind. "I would like to, Ayumi-chan," he said kindly, "but I really do have to go home. I'm sorry. Maybe another time?"

Ayumi beamed and he was slightly surprised when the boys behind her – Genta-kun had arrived at some point during the conversation – grinned at him as well, completely forgetting that they were glaring at him earlier for making Ayumi-chan sad.

Kids were weird.

Still, their smiles made him happy, for some odd reason, and he cheerfully grinned back, in a better mood than he had been since that night at Tropical Land.

School seemed to pass by much more quickly after that. When the bell finally did ring, Shinichi found that his good mood had persisted and he sent a grateful smile to Ayumi-chan as he passed by her on the way to the parking lot. It was kind of nice to end the day on a good note.

"Oh, Conan-kun, hold on!" Ayumi shouted suddenly. He turned to her in surprise. "I know you can't go to the arcade," she said at his look, "but I was thinking…you get picked up from school, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, no matter how far away you live, we wouldn't mind walking you home! It would be fun and it would give us a chance to hang out even when you have to go somewhere later!"

Conan blinked. That was…unexpected. "Thanks, Ayumi-chan. I don't know if my…guardian would allow that, though. I'll have to check, 'kay?"

"All right," she nodded excited, "but let us know! It'll be lots of fun, I promise!"

Conan smiled softly. "Yeah, I bet it will be. Thanks, Ayumi-chan." He waved cheerfully, "bye, guys!"

The trio of friends looked strangely delighted when Conan acknowledged them so personally. "See you, Conan-kun!" They hollered after him.

When the boy met Takagi in the parking lot, the police officer was pleasantly surprised at the warm reception he got. "You seem to be in a good mood, Conan-kun."

"Yeah, I guess. It looks like I've found myself with some nice friends." He laughed lightly, surprising Takagi. It was the first time he'd heard such a jovial sound come from the boy. "So, did you find anything about the case?" Conan asked, suddenly serious, though there was still a bright light in his eyes that had been missing from all of their previous meetings.

"A-ah, we got the pictures from Mouri-tantei. They're a bit…strange. For one, the victim dressed rather oddly, especially considering the heat. And…there's something else. I don't know exactly, but there's something about the pictures that really bothers me. At any rate, I requested copies and brought them with me. I figured, since you noticed what was wrong with the other pictures, you might be able to help me with this one. Besides, it's always good to get another perspective when you can."

Conan grinned. Looks like he was already well on his way to being able to help out the police. Good.

"Okay! I'll see if I can find what's bothering you about them!"

It was harder than he'd thought. When he found it, he was truly annoyed at himself. How could he have missed something so perfectly obvious!

But it was rather understandable, really. He'd been expecting something small to be the problem, something little and generally unimportant until one realized that hey, this wasn't right. He'd been too focused on the details and, as such, had missed the big picture.

Idiot, he scolded himself. He was supposed to be a detective, a good one. How could he let expectations cloud his judgment so thoroughly?

He was slightly gratified that he wasn't the only one that had made such an error. Takagi, and likely the rest of the taskforce, as they probably would have seen these photos, had, too. "Ne, Takagi-keiji," he called when he'd finally finished scolding himself. "Isn't this strange? In this picture, Negishi-san is left-handed. But in the others, he was right-handed! Oh, but this one has him left-handed, too! How strange."

Takagi blinked. "Right-handed, then left-handed? Maybe he was ambidexterious?"

"But according to the dates on the photos, he only used his left hand on the Wednesday that Mouri-jiisan was following him. Why would he do that?"

"Hmm. C-could it be that it _wasn't_ Negishi-san on Wednesday? I-I mean, we'd have to double check, be sure Negishi-san didn't just have a strange habit like that and make sure that he was originally right-handed to prove that it was him in the Monday-Tuesday pictures, but if it wasn't Negishi-san…if it wasn't the victim, Abe-san's alibi falls apart. He started his trip on Wednesday. But if Negishi-san was killed before then…" Takagi turned to Conan with an excited air about him. "This is great, Conan-kun. Of course, we have to make sure first, but if it's true, then we have motive and opportunity. Means is a bit of a moot point in this case, as anyone can set fire to a person if they know how and access to the fire during Himatsuri would have been easy enough. The shrine is hardly guarded and if the body was left there, out of sight, until the fire was lit, then the culprit wouldn't have needed to be around to dispose of the body. He just left the wallet so that we could identify him – and so that he could collect on the insurance – and in the mean time, he establishes himself a perfect alibi."

Conan grinned up at the police officer. Takagi was a bit timid, yeah, but he was obviously a pretty good investigator. It made Conan glad he had wound up living with him rather than, say, Mouri-jiisan, whose detective business had been in the dumps since it had been started.

"You said he had a motive?" Conan prompted.

"Yeah," Takagi nodded absently. It felt a little strange relaying the information the police had to a little boy, but Conan _had_ helped him. Besides, he already knew plenty about the investigation and it wasn't like they were keeping it under wraps from the media. "Abe-san's company is currently three hundred million yen in debt. Considering Negishi-san's life insurance policy pays five hundred million…" He glanced at his watch and yelped. "Sorry, Conan-kun, but I need to get this information to Megure-keibu. Abe-san was going to leave for another business trip tonight at nine, and unless we can present a reasonable suspicion that he committed the crime, we can't hold him. His trip is supposed to be overseas, too."

Conan looked at the clock over the stove. 5:47. They had to hurry. "Can I come with you?" He asked eagerly.

"Um, I don't know that you should, exactly. I mean, it is police business and all."

"I promise I won't interfere!" _Much_.

"Well…okay, but you need to stay out of the way, alright?"

"'kay!" Conan readily agreed.

They quickly gathered up the necessary things, such as the pictures, and filed into the car. As they approached the station, Takagi pulled out his cell phone and dialed swiftly.

"Satou-san?" He called into the receiver. "I've had an idea on the Negishi-case. Can you check out what his prominent hand was? And if he had any weird quirks as far as that was concerned? I'm going to double check the time of death, too. Thanks. Bye." He hurriedly shoved his phone away, grabbing the wheel with both hands as he turned into the parking lot in front of the Metro Station.

As soon as the car was motionless, both of them leaped out of the car, hardly paying attention to Takagi's lousy parking. Instead, they raced inside and slammed open the door to Megure-keibu's office.

The surprised inspector jumped and whirled around to stare at them. "Takagi-kun, what –?"

"Sir, I think we've discovered a hole in Abe-san's alibi. Sato-san is checking part of it now, but we also need to double-check the time of death, as best the coroner can estimate it. See," he outlined the findings of Conan and himself.

"I see." Megure said, "in that way, he'd be able to fake the time of death and establish a working alibi for himself." He picked up his phone and quickly dialed the morgue. A quick conversation later and Megure hung up the phone. "The coroner says he died sometime either late Tuesday or early Wednesday, granted, that's hard to be certain of because of the fire. Still, it's pretty certain that he was dead well before the fire. I'd say that means we need to head to the airport. Shiratori-kun," he ducked his head into the bullpen to call, "you're in charge here while we head to the airport. When Sato-kun calls in, direct her to follow us. Let's go," he said to Takagi, sparing a slight glance at Conan. He looked like he wanted to say something, but decided not to, allowing the young boy to accompany them on the way to the airport. If Shinichi weren't so concentrated on the case, he might've been worried about what Megure's easy acceptance of his presence implied. As it was, he didn't notice at all.


End file.
